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Q-Park will operate 10 car parks in Toulon (FR)

Following a public service concession tender, Q-Park was recently awarded a contract by the City of Toulon. Q-Park will be responsible for upgrading and operating 10 of the city centre's 12 car parks, consisting of 6,654 parking spaces in the city centre. The concession contract starts as of 1 January 2017 and is for 12 years.

It covers the following car parks:

  • Liberté, 721 spaces

  • Place d’Armes, 663 spaces

  • La Rode Colibri, 441 spaces

  • Porte d’Italie, 605 spaces

  • Pont du Las-Delaune, 477 spaces

  • Gare Albert 1er, 347 spaces

  • Peiresc, 590 spaces

  • Mayol, 1408 spaces

  • Facultés, 970 spaces

  • Lafayette, 432 spaces

A wide-ranging renovation programme for the 10 car parks lasting 30 months will begin early 2017. The total project investment is estimated at EUR 20 million. The renovation work will make the car parks more convenient and safer for motorists and pedestrians, and will focus on:

  • Traffic circulation inside the car parks, including one-way traffic, optimised traffic flow and best use of entrance and exit lanes.

  • Remodelling and upgrading pedestrian areas.

  • Designing cheerful and welcoming reception areas.

  • Making all external pedestrian entrances safe and secure.

  • Access for persons with reduced mobility at all sites.

  • Developing an improved range of electronic facilities.

  • Synergies with retailers aimed at revitalising the city centre.

  • Developing intermodal transport interfaces with the Mistral network (boat/bus/cable car).

  • New services at the car parks

    • bicycle hire

    • car sharing

    • secure spaces for bicycles/motorcycles

    • car wash

Toulon, a developing city

Located at the heart of the Agglomeration community of Toulon Provence Mediterranean, Toulon is France's 15th largest city. With its steadily growing population, especially on its eastern fringe which links Hyères to Toulon, the development of the peri-urban area has encouraged people to use their cars and increased the need for parking.

Furthermore, in recent years, Toulon has introduced a variety of initiatives to revitalise its old town centre, with the aim of making it more accessible and attractive for motorists. In particular, the city has upgraded its port, as well as renovating and extending the Mayol stadium, which is the home of the iconic Rugby Club Toulonnais (European champions) and which attracts vast amounts of traffic when matches are played.

The City of Toulon needed to improve its car parks and upgrade its facilities to improve the flow of traffic in the city centre and to its car parks, to provide a high level of safety, and to comply with new regulations.

The ‘PARKING TOULON’ brand

The creation of a real brand identity for the car parks was an initiative of the City of Toulon. Q-Park pulled out all the stops for this project and called upon urban planner Georges Verney-Carron and the artist Mengzhi Zheng to create a visual identity inspired by the city's coat of arms and heritage.

The ‘PARKING TOULON’ brand can be recognised by its golden yellow and navy blue colours. These colours will be displayed on signposts that will guide motorists from when they enter the city until they arrive at their chosen car park. The dominant yellow is intended for pedestrians, while shades of blue will be used on the ground – light blue for traffic and dark blue for car parking spaces. The colours complement one another and have been used to create icons and an external identity for PARKING TOULON.

Panoramic photographs showing places of interest in Toulon, designed by the artist Marin Kasimir, will also be displayed in the main entrances to some of the car parks.

By winning this contact, Q-Park will reinforce its presence in the south-east of France, where it already operates 30 car parks in six of the region's cities: Marseille, Antibes, Aubagne, Nice, Saint-Laurent-du-Var, and Menton.

We were very enthusiastic about this city project, which enables us show off our creativity, technical know-how, car park management expertise as well as our determination to create real synergies between car parks and retailers in city centres. This contract shows how much the City of Toulon trusts us and we will work hard to support the municipality with its future developments, as well as the urban dynamics in the city centre and the image that Toulon wishes to develop for itself. Our team’s hard work and collaboration with local stakeholders from Toulon, the development of the PARKING TOULON brand and our competitive bid enabled us to rise above our competitors” says Michèle Salvadoretti, Managing Director of Q-Park France.